North America

A late 18th-century portrait of proto-feminist and first lady Abigail Adams

Women in the American Revolution: what were their lives like?.

A portrait of silversmith Paul Revere, with his head resting on his hand.

19 key figures of the American Revolution, from royals to revolutionaries

A brief history of US abortion law, before and after Roe v Wade

A portrait of Benjamin Franklin. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Treaty of Paris 1783: how to negotiate an exit.

The first major clash of the war of American independence, at Bunker Hill

Tea, taxes and the taking up of arms: a timeline of the American Revolution

A fierce clash between colonists and British troops in Boston on 5 March 1770

The American Revolution: your guide to the 18th-century war of independence

An oil painting by Benjamin West shows some of the main belligerents of the Seven Years’ War, a conflict that lay the foundations for future discord between Native Americans and the British and French empires

How did the American Revolution begin?.

The Spanish flee Tenochtitlan under fierce fire during La Noche Triste.

Why we should remember…When Spanish conquistadors were forced to flee the Aztec capital.

New Yorkers outside the Stonewall Inn in June 1969.

Why we should remember…The 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn.

October 1876: General Nelson Miles talking with Chief Sitting Bull after the army's defeat at Little Bighorn

The battle of Little Bighorn: what happened at 'Custer's last stand'?.

Historian Joyce Lee Malcolm

Joyce Lee Malcolm on gun ownership in America“Why is the right to be armed such an emotional one for Americans? No police force can protect everyone, or even any one, all of the time”.

A policeman searches an African-American man, 1970s

Why we should remember…Richard Nixon's war on drugs.

Watergate at 50: the making of an American scandal.

US president Richard Nixon in 1970

After Watergate: the fallout of an American scandal.

Bernstein and Woodward, the journalists who broke the Watergate scandal

Your guide to the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon

Photo of Richard Nixon at a rally in 1968

Richard Nixon: the rise and fall of an American president.

A customer shops for a pistol at Freddie Bear Sports sporting goods store in Tinley Park, Illinois

The historians’ view: what are the real issues in the US gun control debate?.

Firemen tackling a blitz fire at St Paul's Cathedral, London

Second World War

WW2 timeline: 20 important dates and milestones you need to know

American citizens Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, following their arrest by the FBI 1950. They were convicted of passing infomation to the Soviets and executed in 1953

The secrets and lies of Cold War spies

A group of formerly enslaved African-Americans around the time of the US Civil War

Why we should remember…The Amnesty Act of 1872

Annie Oakley: the most famous sharpshooter in America.

From running marathons to working the nightshift: 8 surprising things women were banned from doing through history.

A vintage photo of the RMS Titantic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912

Your history guide to RMS Titanic, plus 12 fascinating facts about the disaster

Wiretapping: a secret history.

Benjamin Franklin: portrait of a revolutionary.

A cartoon published by Benjamin Franklin c1770 urging the colonies to unite and resist British rule. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Benjamin Franklin: from British patriot to American hero.

United States and Nato flags fly above US Air Force fighter jets in Lithuania

Is the future of Nato under threat?.

What if…George III hadn't 'lost' the colonies?.

Four flapper women line up along a wall and chug bottles of liquor in the 1920s.

Flappers, sanitary pads and public drinking: was the 1920s a time of increased liberation for women?

The 30th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1958. (Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

13 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars